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THIS   FIRST   EDITION    OF 

AN    AMERICAN      PRIMER 

IS   LIMITED  TO    FIVE   HUNDRED   COPIES 


AN  AMERICAN  PRIMER 


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AN 
AMERICAN  PRIMER 
BY  WALT  WHITMAN 

WITH   FACSIMILES   OF 
THE  ORIGINAL   MANUSCRIPT 

EDITED   BY 
HORACE    TRAUBEL 


BOSTON 

SMALL,  MAYNARD  &  COMPANY 

MCMIV 


Gdpyright,  1904,  by 
Horace  Traubel 


Entered  at  Stationers'  Hall 


Published  November,  1904 


twdV 


THE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS,    CAMBRIDGE,    U.S.A. 


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FOREWORD 


The  American  Primer  is  a  challenge  rather 
than  a  finished  fight.  We  find  Whitman  on 
this  occasion  rather  laying  his  plans  than 
undertaking  to  perfect  them.  It  would  be 
unfair  to  take  such  a  mass  of  more  or  less 
disjointed  notes  and  pass  them  under  severe 
review.  Whitman  never  intended  them  for 
publication.  He  should  not  be  criticised,  as 
he  has  been  by  certain  American  editors,  for 
an  act  for  which  he  is  in  no  way  responsible. 
The  Primer  is  not  a  dogma.  It  is  an  inter- 
rogation. Even  as  a  dogma  something  might 
be  said  for  it.  As  a  question  it  intimates  its 
own  answer.  One  of  Whitmans  remarks 
about  it  was  this :  "  It  does  not  suggest  the 
invention  but  descjibes  the  growth  of  an 
American  English  enjoying  a  distinct  iden- 
tity," Whitman  would  every  now  and  then 
get  on  his  financial  uppers.  Then  he  would 
say :  "  /  guess  I  will  be  driven  to  the  lecture 
field  in  spite  of  myself  The  Primer  was 
one  of  his  projected  lecture  themes.  The 
lecture  idea  had  possessed  him  most  convinc- 
ingly in  the  period  that  antedated  our  personal 
acquaintance.      Leaves  of  Grass  appeared 


M99780 


FOREWORD 

before  I  was  born.  When  I  got  really  into 
contact  xmth  Whitman  the  fight  was  on  in 
full  fury,  "  The  Leaves  has  always  meant 
fight  to  the  world.  It  never  meant  fight  to 
me,''  That  was  what  Whitman  said  of  it. 
He  would  make  a  point  of  my  youth,  "  You 
bring  young  blood  to  the  field.  We  are 
veterans  —  we  welcome  you,'' 

Whitman  at  different  times,  especially  in 
the  beginning,  when  he  struck  up  his  rebel 
note,  planned  for  all  sorts  of  literary  ven- 
tures which  were  not  consummated.  Whit- 
man was  undoubtedly  convinced  that  he  had 
a  mission.  This  conviction  never  assumed 
fanatic  forms.  Whitman  was  the  most 
catholic  man  who  ever  thought  he  had  a  mis- 
sion. But  he  did  regard  himself  as  such  a 
depository.  Yet  he  never  believed  or  con- 
tended that  he  possessed  exclusive  powers  or 
an  extraordinary  divination.  He  felt  that 
if  the  message  with  which  he  was  entrusted 
did  not  get  out  through  him  it  would  get  out 
through  some  other.  But  in  his  earlier  career, 
after  he  tired  of  writing  in  the  formal  way 
and  to  the  formal  effect  — for  he  played  the 
usual  juvenile  part  in  literary  mimicry  —  he 
felt  that  it  would  be  difficult,  if  not  impossible, 
to  secure  publishers  either  for  his  detail  work 

vi 


FOREWORD 

or  for  his  boohs.  He  often  ashed  himself: 
How  am  I  to  deliver  my  goods  ?  He  once 
decided  that  he  would  lecture.  And  he  told 
me  that  when  the  idea  of  The  American 
Primer  originally  came  to  him  it  was  for  a 
lecture.  Yet  these  notes  in  themselves  were 
only  fragments.  He  never  looked  upon  them 
as  furnishing  more  than  a  start,  "  They 
might  make  the  material  for  a  good  talk^'  he 
said,  "  It 's  only  a  sketch-piece  anyway,''  he 
said  again :  "  a  few  rough  touches  here  and 
there,  not  rounding  up  the  theme  —  rather 
showing  what  may  be  made  of  it,  I  often 
think  the  Leaves  themselves  are  much  the 
same  sort  of  thing :  a  passage  way  to  some- 
thing rather  than  a  thing  in  itself  concluded : 
not  the  best  that  might  be  done  but  the  best  it 
is  necessary  to  do  for  the  present,  to  break 
the  ground'' 

Whitman  wrote  at  this  Primer  in  the  early 
fifties.  And  there  is  evidence  that  he  made 
brief  additions  to  it  from  time  to  time  in  the 
ten  years  that  followed.  The  most  of  the 
manuscript  notes  are  scribbled  on  sheets  of 
various  tints  improvised  from  the  paper 
covers  used  on  the  unbound  copies  of  the 
1855  edition.  There  is  later  paper  and  later 
handwriting.     But  the  notes  were   largely 

vii 


FORE W  ORD 

written  in  the  rather  exciting  Jive  years 
before  the  war.  "  That  stretch  of  time  after 
1855  until  1861  was  crowded  with  personal 
as  well  as  political  preparations  for  war,'' 
But  after  he  had  issued  the  first  edition  of 
Leaves  of  Grass,  and  after  he  found  the 
book  surviving  into  the  1856  and  1860  edi- 
tions, some  of  his  old  plans,  this  lecture  scheme 
among  them,  were  abandoned.  The  Primer 
was  thenceforth,  as  a  distinct  project,  held 
in  abeyance.  I  remember  that  in  the  late 
eighties  he  said  to  me:  " /  may  yet  bring  the 
Primer  out.''  And  when  I  laughed  incredu- 
lously he  added:  "  JVell,  I  guess  you  are 
right  to  laugh:  I  suppose  I  never  shall. 
And  the  best  of  the  Primer  stuff  has  no  doubt 
leaked  into  my  other  work."  It  is  indeed 
true  that  Whitman  gave  expression  to  the 
substance  of  the  Primer  in  one  way  or  an- 
other. Even  some  of  its  sentences  are  utilized 
here  and  there  in  his  prose  and  verse  volumes. 
In  referring  to  the  Primer  upon  another 
occasion,  WTiitman  said:  "  This  subject  of 
language  interests  me  —  interests  me :  I  never 
quite  get  it  out  of  my  mind.  I  sometimes 
think  the  Leaves  is  only  a  language  experi- 
ment— that  it  is  an  attempt  to  give  the  spirit, 
the  body,  the  man,  new  words,  new  potentiaU- 
viii 


FOREWORD 

ties  of  speech —  an  American,  a  cosmopolitan 
{the  best  of  America  is  the  best  cosmopoli- 
tanism) range  of  self  expression.  The  new 
world,  the  new  times,  the  new  peoples,  the  new 
vista,  need  a  tongue  according — yes,  what 
is  more,  will  have  such  a  tongue  —  will  not 
be  satisfied  until  it  is  evolved,''  But  the 
study  brought  to  bear  upon  the  subject  in 
the  manuscript  now  under  view  was  never 
resumed.  The  Primer,  therefore,  is,  as  a 
part  of  Whitmans  serious  literary  product, 
of  marked  significance.  Whitman  said  of  it  : 
"  It  was  first  intended  for  a  lecture :  then 
when  I  gave  up  the  idea  of  lecturing  it  was 
intended  for  a  book:  now,  as  it  stands,  it  is 
neither  a  lecture  nor  a  book,'' 

As  an  alternate  to  his  adopted  headline 
I  find  this  among  Whitman's  memoranda: 
"  The  Primer  of  Words :  For  American 
Young  Men  and  Women,  For  Literati, 
Orators,  Teachers,  Musicians,  Judges, 
Presidents,    S^c," 

I  have  followed  the  original  manuscript 
without  any  departures  whatever.  All  its 
peculiarities  of  capitalization  and  punctuation 
are  allowed  to  remain  untouched, 

Horace  Traubel. 


IX 


SOME  FACSIMILES  OF  THE 
ORIGINAL   MANUSCRIPT 


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Ilillll 


Illilli 


Illlil 


(  'i"ii|'M     


AN 
AMERICAN    PRIMER 

Much  is  said  of  what  is  spiritual,  and  of 
spirituality,  in  this,  that,  or  the  other  —  in 
objects,  expressions.  —  For  me,  I  see  no  ob- 
ject, no  expression,  no  animal,  no  tree,  no  art, 
no  book,  but  I  see,  from  morning  to  night, 
and  from  night  to  morning,  the  spiritual.  — 
Bodies  are  all  spiritual.  —  All  words  are 
spiritual  —  nothing  is  more  spiritual  than 
words.  —  Whence  are  they  ?  along  how 
many  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of 
years  have  they  come  ?  those  eluding,  fluid, 
beautiful,  fleshless,  realities.  Mother,  Father, 
Water,  Earth,  Me,  This,  Soul,  Tongue, 
House,  Fire. 

A  great  observation  will  detect  sameness 
through  all  languages,  however  old,  however 
new,  however  polished,  however  rude.  —  As 
humanity  is  one  under  its  amazing  diver- 
sities, language  is  one  under  its.  —  The  flip- 
pant read  on  some  long  past  age,  wonder  at 
its  dead  costumes  [customs?],  its  amusements, 
&;c. ;  but  the  master  understands  well  the 
old,  ever-new,  ever-common  grounds,  below 
1  1 


AN     AMERICAN     PRIMER 

those  annual  growths.  —  The  master,  I  say, 
between  any  two  ages,  any  two  languages 
and  two  humanities,  however  wide  apart  in 
time  and  space,  marks  well  not  the  super- 
ficial shades  of  difference,  but  the  mass- 
shades  of  a  joint  nature. 

In  a  httle  while,  in  the  United  States,  the 
English  language,  enriched  with  contribu- 
tions from  all  languages,  old  and  new,  will 
be  spoken  by  a  hundred  millions  of  people : 

—  perhaps  a  hundred  thousand  words  ("sev- 
enty or  eighty  thousand  words"  —  Noah 
Webster,  of  the  English  language). 

The  Americans  are  going  to  be  the  most 
fluent  and  melodious  voiced  people  in  the 
world  —  and  the  most  perfect  users  of  words. 

—  Words  follow  character  —  nativity,  inde- 
pendence, individuality. 

I  see  that  the  time  is  nigh  when  the  eti- 
quette of  saloons  is  to  be  discharged  from 
that  great  thing,  the  renovated  English 
speech  in  America.  —  The  occasions  of  the 
English  speech  in  America  are  immense,  pro- 
found —  stretch  over  ten  thousand  vast  cities, 
over  millions  of  miles  of  meadows,  farms, 
mountains,  men,  through  thousands  of  years 

—  the  occasions  of  saloons  are  for  a  coterie,  a 
bon  soir  or  two,  —  involve  waiters  standing 

2 


AN     AMERICAN     PRIMER 

behind  chairs,  silent,  obedient,  with  backs 
that  can  bend  and  must  often  bend. 

What  beauty  there  is  in  words  !  What  a 
lurking  curious  charm  in  the  sound  of  some 
words  I  Then  voices  1  Five  or  six  times  in 
a  lifetime,  (perhaps  not  so  often,)  you  have 
heard  from  men  and  women  such  voices,  as 
they  spoke  the  most  common  word  1  —  What 
can  it  be  that  from  those  few  men  and 
women  made  so  much  out  of  the  most  com- 
mon word!  Geography,  shipping,  steam, 
the  mint,  the  electric  telegraph,  railroads, 
and  so  forth,  have  many  strong  and  beauti- 
ful words.  Mines  —  iron  works  —  the  sugar 
plantations  of  Louisiana — the  cotton  crop 
and  the  rice  crop  —  Illinois  wheat  —  Ohio 
corn  and  pork  —  Maine  lumber — all  these 
sprout  in  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  words, 
all  tangible  and  clean-lived,  all  having  tex- 
ture and  beauty. 

To  all  thoughts  of  your  or  any  one's  mind 
— to  all  yearnings,  passions,  love,  hate,  ennui, 
madness,  desperation  of  men  for  women,  and 
of  women  for  men,  —  to  all  charging  and 
surcharging  —  that  head  which  poises  itself 
on  your  neck  and  is  electric  in  the  body 
beneath  your  head,  or  runs  with  the  blood 
through  your  veins  —  or  in  those  curious  in- 

8 


AN     AMERICAN     PRIMER 

credible  miracles  you  call  eyesight  and  hear- 
ing—  to  all  these,  and  the  like  of  these, 
have  been  made  words.  —  Such  are  the  words 
that  are  never  new  and  never  old. 

What  a  history  is  folded,  folded  inward 
and  inward  again,  in  the  single  word  I. 

The  words  of  the  Body  I  The  words  of 
Parentage !  The  words  of  Husband  and 
Wife.  The  words  of  Offspring  I  The  word 
Mother  I     The  word  Father ! 

The  words  of  Behaviour  are  quite  numer- 
ous. —  They  follow  the  law ;  they  are  cour- 
teous, grave,  have  polish,  have  a  sound  of 
presence,  and  abash  all  furniture  and  shal- 
lowness out  of  their  sight. 

J'he  words  of  maternity  are  all  the  words 
that  were  ever  spoken  by  the  mouth  of  man, 
the  child  of  woman  —  but  they  are  reborn 
words,  and  the  mouth  of  the  full-sized  mother, 
daughter,  wife,  amie,  does  not  offend  by 
using  any  one  of  them. 

Medicine  has  hundreds  of  useful  and 
characteristic  words  —  new  means  of  cure 
—  new  schools  of  doctors  —  the  wonderful 
anatomy  of  the  body  —  the  names  of  a 
thousand  diseases  —  surgeon's  terms  —  hy- 
dropathy—  all  that  relates  to  the  great 
organs  of  the  body.  —  The  medical  art  is 

4 


AN    AMERICAN     PRIMER 

always  grand  —  nothing  affords  a  nobler 
scope  for  superior  men  and  women.  —  It,  of 
course,  will  never  cease  to  be  near  to  man, 
and  add  new  terms. 

Law,  (Medicine)  Religion,  the  Army,  the 
personnel  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  the  Arts, 
stand  on  their  old  stock  of  words,  without 
increase. — In  the  law,  is  to  be  noticed  a  grow- 
ing impatience  with  formulas,  and  with  dif- 
fuseness,  and,  venerable  slang.  The  personnel 
of  the  Army  and  the  Navy  exists  in  America, 
apart  from  the  throbbing  life  of  America  — 
an  exile  in  the  land,  foreign  to  the  instincts 
and  tastes  of  the  people,  and,  of  course,  soon 
in  due  time  to  give  place  to  something 
native,  something  warmed  with  throbs  of 
our  own  life. 

These  States  are  rapidly  supplying  them- 
selves with  new  words,  called  for  by  new 
occasions,  new  facts,  new  politics,  new  com- 
binations.—  Far  plentier  additions  will  be 
needed,  and,  of  course,  will  be  supplied. 

(Because  it  is  a  truth  that)  the  words 
continually  used  among  the  people  are,  in 
numberless  cases,  not  the  words  used  in 
writing,  or  recorded  in  the  dictionaries  by 
authority.  —  There  are  just  as  many  words 
in  daily  use,  not  inscribed  in  the  dictionary, 

5 


AN     AMERICAN     PRIMER 

and  seldom  or  never  in  any  print.  —  Also, 
the  forms  of  grammar  are  never  persistently 
obeyed,  and  cannot  be. 

The  Real  Dictionary  will  give  all  words 
that  exist  in  use,  the  bad  words  as  well 
as  any.  —  The  Real  Grammar  will  be  that 
which  declares  itself  a  nucleus  of  the  spirit 
of  the  laws,  with  liberty  to  all  to  carry 
out  the  spirit  of  the  laws,  even  by  violating 
them,  if  necessary.  —  The  English  Language 
is  grandly  lawless  like  the  race  who  use  it 

—  or,  rather,  breaks  out  of  the  little  laws 
to  enter  truly  the  higher  ones.  It  is  so 
instinct  with  that  which  underlies  laws,  and 
the  purports  of  laws,  it  refuses  all  petty 
interruptions  in  its  way. 

Books  themselves  have  their  peculiar 
words  —  namely,  those  that  are  never  used 
in  living  speech  in  the  real  world,  but  only 
used  in  the  world  of  books.  —  Nobody  ever 
actually  talks  as  books  and  plays  talk. 

The  Morning  has  its  words,  and  the  Even- 
ing has  its  words.  —  How  much  there  is  in 
the  word  Light !  —  How  vast,  surrounding, 
falling,  sleepy,  noiseless,  is  the  word  Night ! 

—  It  hugs  with  unfelt  yet  living  arms. 
Character  makes   words.  —  The   English 

stock,  full  enough  of  faults,  but  averse  to 

6 


AN     AMERICAN     PRIMER 

all  folderol,  equable,  instinctively  just,  latent 
with  pride  and  melancholy,  ready  with 
brawned  arms,  with  free  speech,  with  the 
knife-blade  for  tyrants  and  the  reached  hand 
for  slaves,  —  have  put  all  these  in  words.  — 
We  have  them  in  America,  —  they  are  the 
body  of  the  whole  of  the  past.  —  We  are  to 
justify  our  inheritance  —  we  are  to  pass  it  on 
to  those  who  are  to  come  after  us,  a  thousand 
years  hence,  as  we  have  grown  out  of  the 
English  of  a  thousand  years  ago :  American 
geography,  —  the  plenteousness  and  variety 
of  the  great  nations  of  the  Union  —  the 
thousands  of  settlements — the  seacoast  — 
the  Canadian  north  —  the  Mexican  south 
—  Cahfornia  and  Oregon  —  the  inland  seas — 
the  mountains  —  Arizona  —  the  prairies  — 
the  immense  rivers. 

Many  of  the  slang  words  among  fighting 
men,  gamblers,  thieves,  prostitutes,  are 
powerful  words.  These  words  ought  to 
be  collected  —  the  bad  words  as  well  as 
the  good. — Many  of  these  bad  words  are 
fine. 

Music  has  many  good  words,  now  techni- 
cal, but  of  such  rich  and  juicy  character  that 
they  ought  to  be  taken  for  common  use  in 
writing  and  speaking. 

7 


AN     AMERICAN     PRIMER 

New  forms  of  science,  newer  freer  char- 
acters, may  have  something  in  them  to  need 
new  words.  —  One  beauty  of  words  is  exacti- 
tude.— To  me  each  word  out  of  the that 

now  compose  the  EngHsh  language,  has  its 
own  meaning,  and  does  not  stand  for  any 
thing  but  itself —  and  there  are  no  two  words 
the  same  any  more  than  there  are  two  per- 
sons the  same. 

Much  of  America  is  shown  in  its  news- 
paper names,  and  in  the  names  of  its 
steamboats,  ships  —  names  of  characteristic 
amusements  and  games. 

What  do  you  think  words  are  ?  Do  you 
think  words  are  positive  and  original  things 
in  themselves  ?  —  No :  Words  are  not  origi- 
nal and  arbitrary  in  themselves. — Words  are 
a  result  —  they  are  the  progeny  of  what  has 
been  or  is  in  vogue.  —  If  iron  architecture 
comes  in  vogue,  as  it  seems  to  be  coming, 
words  are  wanted  to  stand  for  all  about  iron 
architecture,  for  the  work  it  causes,  for  the 
different  branches  of  work  and  of  the  work- 
man— those  blocks  of  buildings,  seven  stories 
high,  with  light  strong  fa9ades,  and  girders 
that  will  not  crumble  a  mite  in  a  thousand 
years. 

Also  words  to  describe  all  American  pecu- 
8 


AN     AMERICAN     PRIMER 

liarities,  —  the  splendid  and  rugged  charac- 
ters that  are  forming  among  these  states,  or 
are  already  formed  — in  the  cities,  the  firemen 
of  Mannahatta  and  the  target  excursionist 
and  Bowery  boy  —  the  Boston  truckman  — 
the  Philadelphian. — 

In  America  an  immense  number  of  new 
words  are  needed,  to  embody  the  new  po- 
litical facts,  the  compact  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  and  of  the  Constitution  — 
the  union  of  the  States  —  the  new  States  — 
the  Congress  —  the  modes  of  election  —  the 
stump  speech  —  the  ways  of  electioneering 
—  addressing  the  people  —  stating  all  that  is 
to  be  said  in  modes  that  fit  the  life  and  ex- 
perience of  the  Indianian,  the  Michiganian, 
the  Vermonter,  the  men  of  Maine  —  also 
words  to  answer  the  modem,  rapidly  spread- 
ing, faith,  of  the  vital  equality  of  women  with 
men,  and  that  they  are  to  be  placed  on  an 
exact  plane,  politically,  socially,  and  in  busi- 
ness, with  men.  Words  are  wanted  to  sup- 
ply the  copious  trains  of  facts,  and  flanges 
of  facts,  feelings,  arguments,  and  adjectival 
facts,  growing  out  of  all  new  knowledges. 
Phrenology. 

Drinking  brandy,  gin,  beer,  is  generally 
fatal  to  the  perfection  of  the  voice ;  —  mean- 

9 


AN     AMERICAN     PRIMER 

ness  of  mind  the  same; — gluttony  in  eating, 
of  course  the  same;  a  thinned  habit  of 
body,  or  a  rank  habit  of  body  —  masturba- 
tion, inordinate  going  with  women,  rot  the 
voice.  Yet  no  man  can  have  a  great  voca- 
tion who  has  no  experience  with  women  and 
no  woman  who  has  no  experience  with  men. 
The  final  fiber  and  charm  of  the  voice  fol- 
lows the  chaste  drench  of  love. 

The  great  Italian  singers  are  above  all 
others  in  the  world  from  causes  quite  the 
same  as  those  that  make  the  voices  of  the  na- 
tive healthy  substrata  of  Mannahatta  young 
men,  especially  the  drivers  of  horses  and 
all  whose  work  leads  to  free  loud  calling 
and  commanding,  have  such  a  ring  and 
freshness. 

Pronunciation  of  Yankees  is  nasal  and 
offensive  —  it  has  the  flat  tones.  —  It  could 
probably  be  changed  by  placing  only  those 
teachers  in  schools  who  have  rich  ripe  voices 
—  and  by  the  children  practicing  to  speak 
from  the  chest  and  in  the  guttural  and  bari- 
tone (methods)  voice.  All  sorts  of  physical, 
moral,  and  mental  deformities  are  inevitably 
returned  in  the  voice. 

The  races  that  in  their  realities  are  sup- 
ple, obedient,  cringing,  have  hundreds  of 
10 


AN    AMERICAN     PRIMER 

words  to  express  hundreds  of  forms  of  acts, 
thoughts,  flanges,  of  those  reahties,  which 
the  English  tongue  knows  nothing  of. 

The  English  tongue  is  full  of  strong  words 
native  or  adopted  to  express  the  blood-born 
passion  of  the  race  for  rudeness  and  re- 
sistance, as  against  poUsh  and  all  acts  to 
give  in :  robust,  brawny,  athletic,  muscular, 
acrid,  harsh,  rugged,  severe,  pluck,  grit,  ef- 
frontery, stern,  resistance,  bracing,  rude, 
rugged,  rough,  shaggy,  bearded,  arrogant, 
haughty.  These  words  are  alive  and  sinewy 
—  they  walk,  look,  step  with  an  air  of  com- 
mand.— They  will  often  lead  the  rest — they 
will  not  follow.  —  How  can  they  follow  ?  — 
They  will  appear  strange  in  company  unlike 
themselves. 

English  words.  —  Even  people's  names 
were  spelt  by  themselves,  sometimes  one 
way  sometimes  another.  —  Public  necessity 
remedies  all  troubles.  —  Now,  in  the  80th 
year  of  These  States,  there  is  a  little 
diversity  in  the  ways  of  spelling  words, 
and  much  diversity  in  the  ways  of  pro- 
nouncing them  ;  —  steamships,  railroads, 
newspapers,  submarine  telegraphs,  will  prob- 
ably bring  them  in.  —  If  not,  it  is  not 
important. 

11 


AN     AMERICAN     PRIMER 

So  in  the  accents  and  inflections  of  words. 

—  Language  must  cohere  —  it  cannot  be 
left  loosely  to  float  or  to  fly  away.  —  Yet 
all  the  rules  of  the  accents  and  inflections 
of  words,  drop  before  a  perfect  voice  —  that 
may  follow  the  rules  or  be  ignorant  of  them 

—  it  is  indifferent  which.  —  Pronunciation  is 
the  stamina  of  language,  —  it  is  language.  — 
The  noblest  pronunciation,  in  a  city  or  race, 
marks  the  noblest  city  or  race,  or  descend- 
ants thereof. 

Why  are  names  (words)  so  mighty  ?  —  Be- 
cause facts,  ancestry,  maternity,  faiths,  are.  — 
Slowly,  sternly,  inevitably,  move  the  souls 
of  the  earth,  and  names  (words)  are  its  (their) 
signs. 

Kosmos  words.  Words  of  the  Free  Ex- 
pansion of  Thought,  History,  Chronology, 
Literature,  are  showing  themselves,  with 
foreheads,  muscular  necks  and  breasts.  — 
These  gladden  me.  —  I  put  my  arms  around 
them  —  touch  my  lips  to  theirs.  The  past 
hundred  centuries  have  confided  much  to 
me,  yet  they  mock  me,  frowning.  —  I  think 
I  am  done  with  many  of  the  words  of  the 
past  hundred  centuries.  — I  am  mad  that  their 
poems,  bibles,  words,  still  rule  and  represent 
the  earth,  and  are  not  yet  superseded.  —  But 
12 


AN     AMERICAN    PRIMER 

why  do  I  say  so  ?  —  I  must  not,  wiU  not,  be 
impatient. 

In  American  city  excursions,  for  military 
practice,  for  firing  at  the  target,  for  all  the 
exercises  of  health  and  manhood  —  why 
should  not  women  accompany  them  ?  —  I 
expect  to  see  the  time  in  Politics,  Busi- 
ness, Public  Gatherings,  Processions,  Excite- 
ments, when  women  shall  not  be  divided 
from  men,  but  shall  take  their  part  on  the 
same  terms  as  men.  What  sort  of  women 
have  Massachusetts,  Ohio,  Virginia,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  the  rest,  correspondent  with 
what  they  continually  want  ?  Sometimes  I 
have  fancied  that  only  from  superior,  hardy 
women  can  rise  the  future  superiorities  of 
These  States. 

Man's  words,  for  the  young  men  of  these 
states,  are  all  words  that  have  arisen  out  of 
the  qualities  of  mastership,  going  first,  brunt- 
ing  danger  first,  —  words  to  identify  a  hardy 
boyhood  —  knowledge  —  an  erect,  sweet, 
lusty,  body,  without  taint  —  choice  and  chary 
of  its  love-power. 

The  spelling  of  words  is  subordinate.  — 
Morbidness  for  nice  spelling,  and  tenacity  for 
or  against  some  one  letter  or  so,  means  dandy- 
ism and  impotence  in  literature.  —  Of  course 
13 


AN     AMERICAN     PRIMER 

the  great  WTiters  must  have  digested  all  these 
things,  —  passed  lexicons,  etymologies,  or- 
thographies, through  them  and  extracted  the 
nutriment.  —  Modern  taste  is  for  brevity  and 
for  ranging  words  in  spelling  classes  ;  —  prob- 
ably, the  words  of  the  English  tongue  can 
never  be  ranged  in  spelling  classes.  The 
Phonetic  (?)  Spelling  is  on  natural  principles 

—  it  has  arbitrary  forms  of  letters,  and  com- 
binations of  letters,  for  all  sounds.  —  It  may 
in  time  prevail  —  it  surely  will  prevail  if  it 
is  best  it  should.  —  For  many  hundred  years 
there  was  nothing  like  settled  spelling. 

A  perfect  user  of  words  uses  things  — 
they  exude  in  power  and  beauty  from  him 

—  miracles  from  his  hands  —  miracles  from 
his  mouth  —  lilies,  clouds,  sunshine,  woman, 
poured  copiously — things,  whirled  like  chain- 
shot  rocks,  defiance,  compulsion,  houses,  iron, 
locomotives,  the  oak,  the  pine,  the  keen  eye, 
the  hairy  breast,  the  Texan  ranger,  the  Bos- 
ton truckman,  the  woman  that  arouses  a 
man,  the  man  that  arouses  a  woman. 

Tavern  words,  such  as  have  reference  to 
drinking,  or  the  compliments  of  those  who 
drink  —  the  names  of  some  three  hundred 
different  American  tavern-drinks  in  one  part 
or  another  of  These  States. 


AN    AMERICAN    PRIMER 

Words  of  all  degrees  of  dislike,  from  just 
a  tinge,  onward  or  deepward. 

Words  of  approval,  admiration,  friend- 
ship. This  is  to  be  said  among  the  young 
men  of  These  States,  that  with  a  wonderful 
tenacity  of  friendship,  and  passionate  fond- 
ness for  their  friends,  and  always  a  manly 
readiness  to  make  friends,  they  yet  have 
remarkably  few  words  of  names  for  the 
friendly  sentiments. — They  seem  to  be  words 
that  do  not  thrive  here  among  the  muscular 
classes,  where  the  real  quality  of  friendship 
is  always  freely  to  be  found.  —  Also,  they  are 
words  which  the  muscular  classes,  the  young 
men  of  these  states,  rarely  use,  and  have 
an  aversion  for ;  —  they  never  give  words  to 
their  most  ardent  friendships. 

Words  of  politics  are  numerous  in  these 
states,  and  many  of  them  peculiar.  —  The 
western  states  have  terms  of  their  own: 
the  President's  message  —  the  political 
meeting  —  the  committees  —  the  resolu- 
tions: new  vegetables — new  trees — new 
animals. 

If  success  and  breed  follow  the  camels  and 

dromedaries,  that  are  now  just  introduced 

into  Texas,  to  be  used  for  travel  and  traffic 

over  the  vast  wilds  between  the  lower  Mis- 

15 


AN     AMERICAN     PRIMER 

sissippi  and  the  Pacific,  a  number  of  new 
words  will  also  have  to  be  tried  after  them. 

The  appetite  of  the  people  of  These  States, 
in  popular  speeches  and  writings,  is  for  un- 
hemmed  latitude,  coarseness,  directness,  live 
epithets,  expletives,  words  of  opprobrium,  re- 
sistance. —  This  I  understand  because  I  have 
the  taste  myself  as  large  as  largely  as  any 
one.  —  I  have  pleasure  in  the  use,  on  fit  occa- 
sions, of  traitor,  coward,  liar,  shyster,  skulk, 
doughface,  trickster,  mean  curse,  backslider, 
thief,  impotent,  lickspittle. 

The  great  writers  are  often  select  of  their 
audiences.  —  The  greatest  writers  only  are 
well-pleased  and  at  their  ease  among  the  un- 
learned —  are  received  by  common  men  and 
women  familiarly,  do  not  hold  out  obscure, 
but  come  welcome  to  table,  bed,  leisure,  by 
day  and  night. 

A  perfect  writer  would  make  words  sing, 
dance,  kiss,  do  the  male  and  female  act,  bear 
children,  weep,  bleed,  rage,  stab,  steal,  fire 
cannon,  steer  ships,  sack  cities,  charge  with 
cavalry  or  infantry,  or  do  any  thing,  that  man 
or  woman  or  the  natural  powers  can  do. 

Latent,  in  a  great  user  of  words,  must  ac- 
tually be  all  passions,  crimes,  trades,  animals, 
stars,  God,  sex,  the  past,  might,  space,  metals, 
16 


AN     AMERICAN     PRIMER 

and  the  like  —  because  these  are  the  words, 
and  he  who  is  not  these,  plays  with  a  foreign 
tongue,  turning  helplessly  to  dictionaries  and 
authorities.  —  How  can  I  tell  you  ?  —  I  put 
many  things  on  record  that  you  will  not  un- 
derstand at  first  —  perhaps  not  in  a  year  — 
but  they  must  be  (are  to  be)  understood.  — 
The  earth,  I  see,  writes  with  prodigal  clear 
hands  all  summer,  forever,  and  all  winter  also, 
content,  and  certain  to  be  understood  in  time 

—  as,  doubtless,  only  the  greatest  user  of 
words  himself  fully  enjoys  and  understands 
himself. 

Words  of  Names  of  Places  are  strong, 
copious,  unruly,  in  the  repertoire  for  Ameri- 
can pens  and  tongues.  The  Names  of  These 
States  —  the  names  of  Countries,  Cities, 
Rivers,  Mountains,  Villages,  Neighborhoods 

—  poured  plentifully  from  each  of  the 
languages  that  graft  the  English  language  — 
or  named  from  some  natural  peculiarity  of 
water  or  earth,  or  some  event  that  happened 
there  —  often  named,  from  death,  from  some 
animal,  from  some  of  those  subtle  analogies 
that  the  common  people  are  so  quick  to  per- 
ceive. —  The  names  in  the  list  of  the  Post 
Offices  of  These  States  are  studies. 

What  name  a  city  has  —  What  name  a 
2  17 


AN     AMERICAN     PRIMER 

State,  river,  sea,  mountain,  wood,  prairie,  has 
—  is  no  indifferent  matter.  —  All  aboriginal 
names  sound  good.  I  was  asking  for  some- 
thing savage  and  luxuriant,  and  behold  here 
are  the  aboriginal  names.  I  see  how  they  are 
being  preserved.  They  are  honest  words  — 
they  give  the  true  length,  breadth,  depth. 
They  all  fit.  Mississippi  1 — the  word  winds 
with  chutes  —  it  rolls  a  stream  three  thousand 
miles  long.  Ohio,  Connecticut,  Ottawa, 
Monongahela,  all  fit. 

Names  are  magic.  —  One  word  can  pour 
such  a  flood  through  the  soul.  — To-day  I  will 
mention  Christ's  before  all  other  names. — 
Grand  words  of  names  are  still  left.  —  What 
is  it  that  flows  through  me  at  the  sight  of  the 
word  Socrates,  or  Cincinnatus,  or  Alfred  of 
the  olden  time  —  or  at  the  sight  of  the  word 
Columbus,  or  Shakespeare,  or  Rousseau,  or 
Mirabeau — or  at  the  sight  of  the  word  Wash- 
ington, or  Jefferson,  or  Emerson  ? 

Out  of  Christ  are  divine  words  —  out  of 
this  savior.  Some  words  are  fresh-smelling, 
like  lilies,  roses,  to  the  soul,  blooming  without 
failure.  —  The  name  of  Christ  —  all  words 
that  have  arisen  from  the  life  and  death  of 
Christ,  the  divine  son,  who  went  about  speak- 
ing perfect  words,  no  patois  — whose  life  was 
18 


AN     AMERICAN     PRIMER 

perfect,  —  the  touch  of  whose  hands  and  feet 
was  miracles  —  who  was  crucified  —  his  flesh 
laid  in  a  shroud,  in  the  grave.^ 

Words  of  Names  of  Persons,  thus  far,  still 
return  the  old  continents  and  races  —  return 
the  past  three  thousand  years  —  perhaps 
twenty  thousand  —  return  the  Hebrew  Bible, 
Greece,  Rome,  France,  the  Goths,  the  Celts, 
Scandinavia,  Germany,  England.  Still  ques- 
tions come :  What  flanges  are  practicable  for 
names  of  persons  that  mean  These  States  ?  — 
What  is  there  in  the  best  aboriginal  names  ? 
What  is  there  in  strong  words  of  qualities, 
bodily,  mental, — a  name  given  to  the  cleanest 
and  most  beautiful  body,  or  to  the  offspring 
of  the  same  ?  —  What  is  there  that  will  con- 
form to  the  genius  of  These  States,  and  to  all 
the  facts  ?  —  What  escape  with  perfect  free- 
dom, without  affectation,  from  the  shoals  of 
Johns,  Peters,  Davids,  Marys  ?  Or  on  what 
happy  principle,  popular  and  fluent,  could 
other  words  be  prefixed  or  suffixed  to  these, 

1  Whitman  here  inserts  a  memorandum,  a  sort  of 
self-query,  to  this  effect :  "  A  few  characteristic  words 
—  words  give  us  to  see  —  (list  of  poets  —  Hindoo  — 
Homer  —  Shakespeare  —  Pythagoras,  Plato,  Zoro- 
aster, Menu,  Socrates,  Sesostris,  Christ).  Improve 
this;^  — H.  T. 

19 


AN     AMERICAN     PRIMER 

to  make  them  show  who  they  are,  what  land 
they  were  born  in,  what  government,  which 
of  The  States,  what  genius,  mark,  blood, 
times,  have  coined  them  with  strong-cut 
coinage  ? 

The  subtle  charm  of  the  beautiful  pronun- 
ciation is  not  in  dictionaries,  grammars,  marks 
of  accent,  formulas  of  a  language,  or  in  any 
laws  or  rules.  The  charm  of  the  beautiful 
pronunciation  of  all  words,  of  all  tongues,  is 
in  perfect  flexible  vocal  organs,  and  in  a  de- 
veloped harmonious  soul. — All  words,  spoken 
from  these,  have  deeper  sweeter  sounds,  new 
meanings,  impossible  on  any  less  terms. — 
Such  meanings,  such  sounds,  continually  wait 
in  every  word  that  exists  —  in  these  words 
—  perhaps  slumbering  through  years,  closed 
from  all  tympans  of  temples,  lips,  brains,  until 
that  comes  which  has  the  quality  patiently 
waiting  in  the  words.  The  blank  left  by 
words  wanted,  but  unsupplied,  has  sometimes 
an  unnamably  putrid  cadaverous  meaning. 
It  talks  louder  than  tongues.  What  a  sting- 
ing taste  is  left  in  that  literature  and  conver- 
sation where  have  not  yet  been  served  up  by 
resistless  consent,  words  to  be  freely  used  in 
books,  rooms,  at  table,  any  where,  to  specifi- 
cally mean  the  act  male  and  female. 


AN    AMERICAN     PRIMER 

Likely  there  are  other  words  wanted.  —  Of 
words  wanted,  the  matter  is  summed  up  in 
this :  When  the  time  comes  for  them  to  rep- 
resent any  thing  or  any  state  of  things,  the 
words  will  surely  follow.  The  lack  of  any 
words,  I  say  again,  is  as  historical  as  the  ex- 
istence of  words.  As  for  me,  I  feel  a  hundred 
realities,  clearly  determined  in  me,  that  words 
are  not  yet  formed  to  represent.  Men  like 
me  —  also  women,  our  counterparts,  per- 
fectly equal  —  will  gradually  get  to  be  more 
and  more  numerous  —  perhaps  swiftly,  in 
shoals ;  then  the  words  will  also  follow,  in 
shoals.  —  It  is  the  glory  and  superb  rose-hue 
of  the  English  language,  any  where,  that  it 
favors  growth  as  the  skin  does  —  that  it  can 
soon  become,  wherever  that  is  needed,  the 
tough  skin  of  a  superior  man  or  woman. 

The  art  of  the  use  of  words  would  be  a 
stain,  a  smutch,  but  for  the  stamina  of  things. 
For  in  manners,  poems,  orations,  music, 
friendship,  authorship,  what  is  not  said  is  just 
as  important  as  what  is  said,  and  holds  just 
as  much  meaning.  —  Fond  of  men,  as  a  liv- 
ing woman  is  —  fond  of  women,  as  a  living 
man  is. 

I  like  limber,  lasting,  fierce  words.  —  I  like 
them  applied  to  myself —  and  I  like  them  in 
21 


AN     AMERICAN     PRIMER 

newspapers,  courts,  debates,  congress.  —  Do 
you  suppose  the  liberties  and  the  brawn  of 
These  States  have  to  do  only  with  delicate 
lady- words  ?  with  gloved  gentleman- words  ? 
Bad  Presidents,  bad  judges,  bad  clients,  bad 
editors,  owners  of  slaves,  and  the  long  ranks 
of  Northern  political  suckers  (robbers,  traitors, 
suborned),  monopolists,  infidels,  castrated 
persons,  impotent  persons,  shaved  persons, 
supplejacks,  ecclesiastics,  men  not  fond  of 
women,  women  not  fond  of  men,  cry  down 
the  use  of  strong,  cutting,  beautiful,  rude 
words.  To  the  manly  instincts  of  the  People 
they  will  forever  be  welcome. 

In  words  of  names,  the  mouth  and  ear  of 
the  people  show  antipathy  to  titles,  misters, 
handles.  They  love  short  first  names  abbre- 
viated to  their  lips :  Tom,  Bill,  Jack.  —  These 
are  to  enter  into  literature,  and  be  voted 
for  on  political  tickets  for  the  great  offices. 
Expletives,  words  naming  the  act  male  and 
female,  curious  words  and  phrases  of  assent 
or  inquiry,  nicknames  either  to  persons  or 
customs.  (Many  actions,  many  kinds  of 
character,  and  many  of  the  fashions  of  dress 
have  names  among  two  thirds  of  the  people, 
that  would  never  be  understood  among  the 
remaining  third,  and  never  appear  in  print.) 

m 


AN    AMERICAN    PRIMER 

Factories,  mills,  and  all  the  processes  of 
hundreds  of  different  manufacturers  grow 
thousands  of  words.  Cotton,  woollen,  and 
silk  goods  —  hemp,  rope,  carpets,  paper- 
hangings,  paints,  roofing  preparations,  hard- 
ware, furniture,  paper  mills,  the  printing 
offices  with  their  wonderful  improvements, 
engraving,  daguerreotyping. 

This  is  the  age  of  the  metal  Iron.  Iron, 
with  all  that  it  does,  or  that  belongs  to  iron, 
or  flanges  from  it,  results  in  words :  from  the 
mines  they  have  been  drawn,  as  the  ore  has 
been  drawn.  —  Following  the  universal  laws 
of  words,  these  are  welded  together  in  hardy 
forms  and  characters.  —  They  are  ponderous, 
strong,  definite,  not  indebted  to  the  antique 
—  they  are  iron  words,  wrought  and  cast.  — 
I  see  them  all  good,  faithful,  massive,  per- 
manent words.  I  love  well  these  iron  words 
of  1856.  —  Coal  has  its  words  also,  that  as- 
similate very  much  with  those  of  iron. 

Gold  of  course  has  always  its  words. — 
The  mint,  the  American  coinage,  the  dol- 
lar piece,  the  fifty  dollar  or  one  hundred 
dollar  piece  —  California,  the  metallic  basis 
of  banking,  chemical  tests  of  gold  —  all  these 
have  their  words:  Canada  words,  Yankee 
words,  Mannahatta  words,  Virginia  words. 


AN     AMERICAN     PRIMER 

Florida  and  Alabama  words,  Texas  words, 
Mexican  and  Nicaraguan  words ;  California 
words,  Ohio,  Illinois,  and  Indiana  words. 

The  different  mechanics  have  different 
words  —  all,  however,  under  a  few  great 
over-arching  laws.  —  These  are  carpenter's 
words,  mason's  words,  blacksmith's  words, 
shoemaker's  words,  tailor's  words,  hatter's 
words,  weaver's  words,  painter's  words. 

The  Farmer's  words  are  immense.  —  They 
are  mostly  old,  partake  of  ripeness,  home, 
the  gromid  —  have  nutriment,  like  wheat 
and  milk.  Farm  words  are  added  to,  now, 
by  a  new  class  of  words,  from  the  introduc- 
tion of  chemistry  into  farming,  and  from 
the  introduction  of  numerous  machines  into 
the  bam  and  field. 

The  nigger  dialect  furnishes  hundreds  of 
outr^  words,  many  of  them  adopted  into  the 
common  speech  of  the  mass  of  the  people.  — 
Curiously,  these  words  show  the  old  Eng- 
lish instinct  for  wide  open  pronunciations, 
as  yallah  for  yellow  —  massah  for  master  — 
and  for  rounding  off  all  the  corners  of  words. 
The  nigger  dialect  has  hints  of  the  future 
theory  of  the  modification  of  all  the  words 
of  the  English  language,  for  musical  pur- 
poses, for  a  native  grand  opera  in  America, 
24 


AN     AMERICAN    PRIMER 

leaving  the  words  just  as  they  are  for  writ- 
ing and  speaking,  but  the  same  words  so 
modified  as  to  answer  perfectly  for  musical 
purposes,  on  grand  and  simple  principles.  — 
Then  we  should  have  two  sets  of  words, 
male  and  female  as  they  should  be,  in 
these  states,  both  equally  understood  by  the 
people,  giving  a  fit  much-needed  medium 
to  that  passion  for  music,  which  is  deeper 
and  purer  in  America  than  in  any  other 
land  in  the  world.  —  The  music  of  America 
is  to  adopt  the  Italian  method,  and  expand 
it  to  vaster,  simpler,  far  superber  effects.  — 
It  is  not  to  be  satisfied  till  it  compre- 
hends the  people  and  is  comprehended  by 
them. 

Sea  words,  coast  words,  sloop  words,  sail- 
or's and  boatman's  words,  words  of  ships, 
are  numerous  in  America.  —  One  fourth  of 
the  people  of  these  states  are  aquatic  —  love 
the  water,  love  to  be  near  it,  smell  it,  sail 
on  it,  swim  in  it,  fish,  clam,  trade  to  and  fro 
upon  it.  To  be  much  on  the  water,  or  in 
constant  sight  of  it,  affects  words,  the  voice, 
the  passions.  —  Around  the  markets,  among 
the  fish-smacks,  along  the  wharves,  you  hear 
a  thousand  words,  never  yet  printed  in  the 
repertoire  of  any  lexicon — words,   strong 

25 


AN     AMERICAN     PRIMER 

words  solid  as  logs,   and  more  beauty  to 
me  than  any  of  the  antique. 

Words  of  the  Laws  of  the  Earth, 

Words  of  the  Stars,  and  about  them, 

Words  of  the  Sun  and  Moon, 

Words  of  Geology,  History,  Geography, 

Words  of  Ancient  Races, 

Words  of  the  Medieval  Races, 

Words  of  the  progress  of  Religion,  Law, 
Art,  Government, 

Words  of  the  surface  of  the  Earth,  grass, 
rocks,  trees,  flowers,  grains  and  the  like, 

Words  of  like  climates. 

Words  of  the  Air  and  Heavens, 

Words  of  the  Birds  of  the  air,  and  of  in- 
sects. 

Words  of  Animals, 

Words  of  Men  and  Women  —  the  hundreds 
of  different  nations,  tribes,  colors,  and 
other  distinctions, 

Words  of  the  Sea, 

Words  of  Modern  Leading  Ideas, 

Words  of  Modern  Inventions,  Discoveries, 
engrossing  Themes,  Pursuits, 

Words  of  These  States — the  Year  1,  Wash- 
ington, the  Primal  Compact,  the  Second 
Compact  (namely  the  Constitution) — 
26 


AN    AMERICAN     PRIMER 

trades,  farms,  wild  lands,  iron,  steam, 
slavery,  elections,  California,  and  so  forth, 

Words  of  the  Body,  Senses,  Limbs,  Surface, 
Interior, 

Words  of  dishes  to  eat,  or  of  naturally  pro- 
duced things  to  eat, 

Words  of  clothes, 

Words  of  implements. 

Words  of  furniture. 

Words  of  all  kinds  of  Building  and  Con- 
structing, 

Words  of  Human  Physiology, 

Words  of  Human  Phrenology, 

Words  of  Music, 

Words  of  Feebleness,  Nausea,  Sickness, 
Ennui,  Repugnance,  and  the  like. 

In  most  instances  a  characteristic  word 
once  used  in  a  poem,  speech,  or  what  not,  is 
then  exhausted ;  he  who  thinks  he  is  going 
to  produce  effects  by  freely  using  strong 
words,  is  ignorant  of  words.  One  single 
name  belongs  to  one  single  place  only  — 
as  a  key-word  of  a  book  may  be  best  used 
only  once  in  the  book.  —  A  true  composition 
in  words,  returns  the  human  body,  male  or 
female  —  that  is  the  most  perfect  composi- 
tion, and  shall  be  best-beloved  by  men  and 
27 


AN     AMERICAN     PRIMER 

women,  and  shall  last  the  longest,  which 
slights  no  part  of  the  body,  and  repeats  no 
part  of  the  body.  —  To  make  a  perfect  com- 
position in  words  is  more  than  to  make  the 
best  building  or  machine,  or  the  best  statue, 
or  picture.  —  It  shall  be  the  glory  of  the 
greatest  masters  to  make  perfect  composi- 
tions in  words. 

As  wonderful  delineations  of  character  — 
as  the  picturesque  of  men,  women,  history 
—  these  plays  of  Shakespeare  and  the  rest 
are  grand  —  our  obligations  to  them  are  in- 
calculable. Other  facts  remain  to  be  con- 
sidered —  their  foreignness  to  us  in  much  of 
their  spirit  —  the  sentiment  under  which 
they  were  written,  that  caste  is  not  to  be 
questioned  —  that  the  nobleman  is  of  one 
blood  and  the  — 

Costumes  are  retrospective  —  they  rise 
out  of  the  substrata  of  education,  equality, 
ignorance,  caste  and  the  like.  A  nation 
that  imports  its  costumes  imports  deform- 
ity. —  Shall  one  man  be  afraid,  or  one  woman 
be  afraid,  to  dress  in  a  beautiful,  decorous, 
natural,  wholesome,  inexpensive  manner,  be- 
cause many  thousands  dress  in  the  reverse 
manner?  There  is  this,  also,  about  cos- 
tumes—  many  save  themselves  from  being 
9» 


AN     AMERICAN    PRIMER 

exiled,  and  keep  each  other  in  countenance, 
by  being  alike  foolish,  dapper,  extravagant. 
I  see  that  the  day  is  to  come  very  soon  in 
America  vrhen  there  will  not  be  a  flat  level 
of  costumes. 

Probably  there  is  this  truth  to  be  said  about 
the  Anglo-Saxon  breed  —  that  in  real  vocal 
use  it  has  less  of  the  words  of  the  various 
phases  of  friendship  and  love  than  any  other 
race,  and  more  friendship  and  love.  The 
literature,  so  full  of  love,  is  begotten  of  the 
old  Celtic  metrical  romances,  and  of  the  ex- 
travagant lays  of  those  who  sang  and  nar- 
rated, in  France,  and  thence  in  England  — 
and  of  Italian  extravaganzas  —  and  all  that 
sighing,  vowing,  kissing,  dying,  that  was  in 
songs  in  European  literature  in  the  sixteenth 
century.  —  Still,  it  seems  as  if  this  love-sick- 
ness engrafted  on  our  literature  were  only  a 
fair  response  and  enjoyment  that  people  nour- 
ish themselves  with,  after  repressing  their 
words.  —  The  Americans,  like  the  English, 
probably  make  love  worse  than  any  other 
race.  —  Voices  follow  character,  and  nothing 
is  better  than  a  superb  vocalism.  I  think 
this  land  is  covered  with  the  weeds  and  chaff 
of  literature. 

California  is  sown  thick  with  the  names 
589 


AN     AMERICAN    PRIMER 

of  all  the  little  and  big  saints.  Chase  them 
away  and  substitute  aboriginal  names.  What 
is  the  fitness  —  What  the  strange  charm  of 
aboriginal  names  ?  —  Monongahela — it  rolls 
with  venison  richness  upon  the  palate. 
Among  names  to  be  revolutionized:  that 
of  the  city  of  "  Baltimore." 

Never  will  I  allude  to  the  EngHsh  Lan- 
guage or  tongue  without  exultation.  This 
is  the  tongue  that  spurns  laws,  as  the  greatest 
tongue  must.  It  is  the  most  capacious  vital 
tongue  of  all  —  full  of  ease,  definiteness  and 
power  —  full  of  sustenance.  —  An  enormous 
treasure-house,  or  range  of  treasure  houses, 
arsenals,  granary,  chock  full  with  so  many 
contributions  from  the  north  and  from  the 
south,  from  Scandinavia,  from  Greece  and 
Rome  —  from  Spaniards,  Italians  and  the 
French,  —  that  its  own  sturdy  home-dated 
Angles-bred  words  have  long  been  outnum- 
bered by  the  foreigners  whom  they  lead  — 
which  is  all  good  enough,  and  indeed  must 
be.  —  America  owes  immeasurable  respect 
and  love  to  the  past,  and  to  many  ances- 
tries, for  many  inheritances  —  but  of  all  that 
America  has  received  from  the  past,  from 
the  mothers  and  fathers  of  laws,  arts,  letters, 
&c.,  by  far  the  greatest  inheritance  is  the 
30 


AN     AMERICAN    PRIMER 

English  Language  —  so  long  in  growing  — 
so  fitted. 

All  the  greatness  of  any  land,  at  any  time, 
lies  folded  in  its  names.  —  Would  I  recall 
some  particular  country  or  age  ?  the  most  an- 
cient ?  the  greatest  ?  —  I  recall  a  few  names 

—  a  mountain,  or  sierra  of  mountains  —  a 
sea  or  bay  —  a  river  —  some  mighty  city  — 
some  deed  of  persons,  friends  or  enemies,  — 
some  event,  perhaps  a  great  war,  perhaps 
a  greater  peace  —  some  time-marking  and 
place-marking  philosoph,  divine  person,  king, 
bard,  goddess,  captain,  discoverer,  or  the  Hke. 

—  Thus  does  history,  in  all  things,  hang 
around  a  few  names.  —  Thus  does  all  human 
interest  hang  around  names.  —  All  men  ex- 
perience it,  but  no  man  ciphers  it  out. 

What  is  the  curious  rapport  of  names  ?  — 
I  have  been  informed  that  there  are  people 
who  say  it  is  not  important  about  names  — 
one  word  is  as  good  as  another,  if  the  desig- 
nation be  understood.  —  I  say  that  nothing 
is  more  important  than  names.  —  Is  art  im- 
portant? Are  forms?  Great  clusters  of 
nomenclature  in  a  land  (needed  in  American 
nomenclature)  include  appropriate  names  for 
the  Months  (those  now  used  perpetuate  old 
myths) ;  appropriate  names  for  the  Days  of 
31 


AN     AMERICAN    PRIMER 

the  Week  (those  now  used  perpetuate  Teu- 
tonic and  Greek  divinities) ;  appropriate 
names  for  Persons  American  —  men,  women, 
and  children ;  appropriate  names  for  Amer- 
ican places,  cities,  rivers,  counties,  &c. — 
The  word  county  itself  should  be  changed. 
Numbering  the  streets,  as  a  general  thing, 
with  a  few  irresistible  exceptions,  is  very- 
good.  No  country  can  have  its  own  poems 
without  it  have  its  own  names.  —  The  name 
of  Niagara  should  be  substituted  for  the  St. 
Lawrence.  Among  the  places  that  stand  in 
need  of  fresh  appropriate  names  are  the  great 
cities  of  St.  Louis,  New  Orleans,  St.  Paul's. 
The  whole  theory  and  practice  of  the 
naming  of  College  societies  must  be  remade 
on  superior  American  principles.  —  The  old 
theory  and  practice  of  classical  education  is 
to  give  way,  and  a  new  race  of  teachers  is 
to  appear.  —  I  say  we  have  here,  now,  a 
greater  age  to  celebrate,  greater  ideas  to  em- 
body, than  anything  ever  in  Greece  or  Rome 
—  or  in  the  names  of  Jupiters,  Jehovahs, 
ApoUos  and  their  myths.  The  great  proper 
names  used  in  America  must  commemorate 
things  belonging  to  America  and  dating 
thence.  —  Because,  what  is  America  for  ?  — 
To  commemorate  the  old  myths  and  the 


AN     AMERICAN    PRIMER 

gods  ?  —  To  repeat  the  Mediterranean  here  ? 
Or  the  uses  and  growths  of  Europe  here  ?  — 
No  ;  —  (Na-o-o)  but  to  destroy  all  those  from 
the  purposes  of  the  earth,  and  to  erect  a 
new  earth  in  their  place. 

All  lies  folded  in  names,  I  have  heard 
it  said  that  when  the  spirit  arises  that  does 
not  brook  submission  and  imitation,  it  will 
throw  off  the  ultramarine  names.  —  That 
Spirit  already  walks  the  streets  of  the  cities 
of  These  States  —  I,  and  others,  illustrate 
it.  —  I  say  America,  too,  shall  be  commem- 
orated—  shall  stand  rooted  in  the  ground 
in  names  —  and  shall  flow  in  the  water  in 
names  and  be  diffused  in  time,  in  days,  in 
months,  in  their  names.  —  Now  the  days 
signify  extinct  gods  and  goddesses  —  the 
months  half-unknown  rites  and  emperors  — 
and  chronology  with  the  rest  is  all  foreign 
to  America  —  all  exiles  and  insults  here. 

But  it  is  no  small  thing  —  no  quick 
growth  ;  not  a  matter  of  rubbing  out  one 
word  and  of  writing  another.  —  Real  names 
never  come  so  easily.  —  The  greatest  cities, 
the  greatest  politics,  the  greatest  physiology 
and  soul,  the  greatest  orators,  poets,  and 
literati  —  The  best  women,  the  freest  lead- 
ing men,  the  proudest  national  character  — 


AN     AMERICAN    PRIMER 

such,  and  the  like,  are  indispensable  before- 
hapd.  —  Then  the  greatest  names  will  fol- 
low, for  they  are  results  —  and  there  are  no 
greater  results  in  the  world. 

Names  are  the  turning  point  of  who  shall 
be  master.  —  There  is  so  much  virtue  in 
names  that  a  nation  which  produces  its  own 
names,  haughtily  adheres  to  them,  and  sub- 
ordinates others  to  them,  leads  all  the  rest  of 
the  nations  of  the  earth.  —  I  also  promulge 
that  a  nation  which  has  not  its  own  names, 
but  begs  them  of  other  nations,  has  no 
identity,  marches  not  in  front  but  behind. 

Names  are  a  test  of  the  esthetic  and  of 
spirituality. — A  delicate  subtle  something 
there  is  in  the  right  name  —  an  undemon- 
strable  nourishment  that  exhilarates  the 
soul.  Masses  of  men,  unaware  what  they 
like,  lazily  inquire  what  difference  there  is 
between  one  name  and  another.  —  But  the 
few  fine  ears  of  the  world  decide  for  them 
also  and  recognize  them  —  the  masses  being 
always  as  eligible  as  any  whether  they  know 
it  or  not.  —  All  that  immense  volumes,  and 
more  than  volumes,  can  tell,  are  conveyed  in 
the  right  name.  The  right  name  of  a  city, 
state,  town,  man,  or  woman,  is  a  perpetual 
feast  to  the  esthetic  and  moral  nature. 


AN     AMERICAN    PRIMER 

Names  of  Newspapers.  What  has  such 
a  name  as  The  Mgis,  The  Mercury,  The 
Herald,  to  do  in  America  ? 

Californian,'Texan,  New  Mexican,  and  Ari- 
zonian  names  have  the  sense  of  the  ecstatic 
monk,  the  cloister,  the  idea  of  miracles,  and 
of  devotees  canonized  after  death.  —  They 
are  the  results  of  the  early  missionaries  and 
the  element  of  piety  in  the  old  Spanish 
character.  —  They  have,  in  the  same  connec- 
tion, a  tinge  of  melancholy  and  of  a  curious 
freedom  from  roughness  and  money-making. 
Such  names  stand  strangely  in  California. 
What  do  such  names  know  of  democracy, 
—  of  the  hunt  for  the  gold  leads  and  the 
nugget  or  of  the  rehgion  that  is  scorn  and 
negation  ? 

American  writers  are  to  show  far  more 
freedom  in  the  use  of  words. — Ten  thousand 
native  idiomatic  words  are  growing,  or  are 
to-day  already  grown,  out  of  which  vast 
numbers  could  be  used  by  American  writers, 
with  meaning  and  eifect  —  words  that  would 
be  welcomed  by  the  nation,  being  of  the 
national  blood  —  words  that  would  give  that 
taste  of  identity  and  locality  which  is  so 
dear  in  literature. 


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